So I read this article the other day: Book changes temperature or vibrates, depending on the plot The article is really short, and here’s the main quote from it:

This “Sensory Fiction” project is the creation of MIT’s Media Lab, who explain:

The ‘augmented’ book portrays the scenery and sets the mood, and the wearable allows the reader to experience the protagonist’s physiological emotions. The book cover animates to reflect the book’s changing atmosphere, while certain passages trigger vibration patterns.

Changes in the protagonist’s emotional or physical state triggers discrete feedback in the wearable, whether by changing the heartbeat rate, creating constriction through air pressure bags, or causing localized temperature fluctuations.

My first response was “huh, cool. I doubt I’d spend money on it (since it would probably be really expensive), but it’s pretty cool nonetheless.” Then I began to wonder if it was really a good idea. Empathy is already a pretty powerful tool for immersion and feeling what the characters in the book are feeling. Is it healthy to push it further? Or would “sensory fiction” even be able to do what it claims? I’d be willing to try it, but I have my reservations.

Well readers, what do you think?